TCM Pick O’ The Day: Sunday, March 22nd
by John Nolte
9pm PST - Sunrise (1927) – In this silent film, a farmer’s affair with a city woman almost destroys his life. Cast: George O’Brien, Janet Gaynor, Margaret Livingston, Bodil Rosing Dir: F. W. Murnau BW-94 mins, TV-PG
Set your TiVo and prepare yourself for a silent film for those who don’t think they like silent films — what you might call a gateway drug.
Studio chief William Fox brought F.W. Murnau to Hollywood and practically handed his entire studio over to the German director, promising him anything he needed to make the film he wanted. The result was a commercial disappointment, but a pure masterpiece, easily one of the five best films ever made, and something so emotionally haunting it will stay with you for days afterward, or in my case, forever.
If it weren’t for the glorious years of the MGM musical, I would argue the art of film peaked with “Sunrise,” a triumph of visual poetry so achingly beautiful, so bewitching, so exquisite and visually affecting that you won’t feel like you’re watching a movie, but rather a dream, and at times a nightmare.
F.W. Murnau
Sadly, Murnau would only make three more films after “Sunrise” before being killed in a 1941 1931 road accident. But his legacy lived on through John Ford, Howard Hawks, Frank Borzage, and Raoul Walsh, four directors under contract with Fox and encouraged to learn from Murnau. Ford was especially impressed. So much so, in fact, that after he caught an early peak at some “Sunrise” footage he travelled to Germany to visit with the director. It’s hard to imagine a man like Ford deferring to anyone, but at the time Ford called “Sunrise” the greatest film he’d ever seen.
Somewhere an alternate universe might exist where Murnau never was and those four directors never had a chance to learn from him and others from them.
Sounds like Hell for film lovers.
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25 Comments
Raoul Walsh spent his later years in Simi Valley, where I was a member of the city planning commission. Not too long before his death, we held a function so we could present him with a lifetime achievement award and a joint resolution of the city council and planning commission. He still had plenty of fire. Being a big fan and a would-be movie maven, I got a chance to ask him which actors and directors had an influence on his work. One of those he mentioned was F. W. Murnau. I didn't have a clue who that was, and never got around to finding out. Thanks to you, I will now get that chance. PS: Was Walsh great as John Wilkes Booth in "Birth of a Nation" or what?
I saw this recently. Its really gripping. Awesome, awesome movie. Its also really good about promoting conservative values, sorta.
I saw this movie on the big screen years ago. Masterpiece through every second of it.
Murnau also did "Nosferatu," which only by coincidence I saw last night, and "City Girl," which I have on DVD but haven't seen yet.
Beautiful evocative stuff. Other than the self-restrictions Hollywood placed on themselves regarding moral content — which forced subtext and therefore better story telling techniques on filmmakers — I believe another reason the Golden Age was so golden is because while most of the stars didn't survive the transfer to sound, the directors did and they had learned how to tell a story visually during the silent era — an art all but lost in the talk-talk-talk of today's films — "Dupliticy" being a perfect example.
I can't believe I forgot about "Nosferatu." Somehow I must have mentally disconnected his name from the movie. You are so right about the directors transitioning from silents to talkies. The other thing I've noticed in movies over the past few years is the seeming lack of continuity directors. I don't mean the ones who show up in the credits, I mean the ones who actually do it.
You really ought to watch "City Girl" ASAP, John. It has many moments just as ravishing as "Sunrise," and in some ways its visual story-telling is even more sophisticated. It has the same, let's say, values as "Sunrise," but the scenario inverts that of the former film—in "City Girl" it's the good, sincere, and loving urban woman who's received with scorn by the farm folk.
These pictures, great as they are, really make one more keenly mourn the loss of another Fox/Murnau masterpiece, "Four Devils."
If the wedding scene in the church doesn't choke you up, nothing on film ever will.
the film airs at midnight here in Cincinnati—wish I had a DVR; guess I will tape this, and catch Red Eye clips on the web on Monday…..
Nosferatu is the scariest of all vampire flicks—wasn't there a film made recently with the premise that Murnau hired a real vampire (played by Willem Dafoe)….we all know that vampires don't have a reflection, so how could one appear on film?
Shadow of the Vampire, with John Malkovich as Murnau.
I saw this during a film class at the University of Oregon, in 1987.
I still remember it. What a great film.
(… now the rest of the class was just an excuse for my marxist professor to hate on Reagan. But he did show us good films.)
I own this on DVD with three other Fox classics (HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY, ALL ABOUT EVE, GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT). Only THE CROWD tops it as the greatest American silent drama.
A small correction: Munau died in a car accident in 1931, not in 1941. Two of Murnau's German masterpieces are THE LAST LAUGH (1924) and FAUST (1926). No other director before or since made so many films that actually needed no dialogue to be understood.
Too bad you didn't tell your prof that you thought "Bedtime for Bonzo" was the best movie ever made. I did that once to some Reagan haters, and they were so shocked, confused and dumbstricken that I didn't have to bother with a genuine defense of the best President of the twentieth century.
"Nosferatu" is one of the most chilling horror movies ever made in my opinion, with some of the most striking visuals that I've seen in a film. What makes it even more remarkable was that Murnau was literally inventing his technique as he put it into practice. It isn't needlessly gory and doesn't attempt any cheap thrills, but every time I watch it I honestly feel disturbed for a while afterward.
I haven't seen "Sunrise" yet but I'm dialing it up on the DVR now most definitely.
When you watch this movie you will see how great the silent film makers were at telling a story without hearing any of the dialogue. Like all great silents, you will forget by the end that you only heard the musical score. So many directors today go to bed each night wondering how they can make as powerful a film as this.
Awesome Lawhawk! I am going to try that sometime—-not with a prof, as I am too old.
But Bonzo really wasn't bad—dealing with a chimp gave Reagan practice for his future role as the greatest POTUS of the 20th century—getting exasperated at Bonzo didn't helped, so by the time he dealt with Dems, he knew that the use of humor was a devastating response.
That was the one. I liked it a quite a bit too, but I can't watch it without watching the original "Nosferatu" immediately after to get the "full effect" and usually when I'm in the mood to do it, I don't have the time. I need to make time though to watch both back to back again sometime soon.
Willem Dafoe was most assuredly both awesome and creepy in "Shadow of the Vampire" in my opinion. To the point where one really could believe that his Max Schreck could really be a vampire pretending to be an actor, and when they intercut to the filmed scenes it's almost seamless. More than one person I've recommened "Shadow of the Vampire" to has admitted to immediately running to the internet right afterward to Google Max Schreck to see if he ever was in anything else, and if it was filmed during the day. That to me is the mark of a both a very good and believable performance, as well as an intriguingly off center plot kernel that can stick in a viewer's mind.
You've convinced me — I'll set the DVR!
Thanks for bringing this haunting film to our attention – and let's hope it never gets colorized! Absolutely amazing visuals and camerawork – created at a time when filmmakers had no easy computer-generated way out. "Sunrise" and "The Last Laugh" should both be required viewing in schools – before kids' minds are polluted by the watered-down derivative stuff that's released nowadays.
I also saw Sunrise in a film class, but it was at the University of Arizona in 1989. My professor was a feminist who didn't know a whole lot about movies. When we watched The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, I had to explain to her what the "dead man's hand" was.
A bit late to the conversation, but this is one of my all-time favorite movies and in my top 5 of favorite silents. I first saw it on VHS back in the early 90's — rented from a little quirky video store that rented foreign flicks and silent movies and other 'obscure' pieces. The moment I saw 'Sunrise' I was so enthralled, so amazed, so swept away by what Murnau was weaving, I knew that this was moviemaking as it was always intended. And considering that it came at the end of the silent era gave it even more pathos. A few Christmases ago, my sister managed to find a DVD copy for me, the one released as a special bonus if you bought God knows how many Fox movies. It is a very precious part of my collection.
Oh I'm so glad you mentioned 'Faust.' The final scenes should be required viewing of any film fan or student if only for showing love's redemptive power. (And there's Emil Jannings as Mephistopheles in one of my favorite roles for him, besides 'The Last Laugh'). Visually, it's simply gorgeous. To anyone who hasn't seen it, definitely rent it or find it on YouTube.
I saw 'City Girl' a few weeks ago, John and you really should see it. As someone else said, I thought of it as a kind of 'Sunrise' in reverse (sort of) because now you have a hard working, burnt out city girl (Mary Duncan, who ironically played the evil woman in Four Devils) who wants nothing more than to escape the big city for the country. She and Charles Farrell (Lem, the farm boy) have a lovely chemistry too. Two of my favorite moments: Duncan in her tired little one room flat next to an El track, trying to get a plant to grow and her one companion, a mechanical bird who makes her long for more; and the newlyweds running through the fields of wheat when he takes her home, the wheat as much a character as the humans. It's not 'Sunrise' but I enjoyed it a LOT!
Just Netflicked Sunrise, never even heard of it. The only other silent movie I have seen is "The General" with Buster Keaton. I was amazed at how funny that movie was, silent or not.
I loved this film. I caught it quite a while ago on TCM. By accident I caught it again last night (I say accident because I hadn't kept up w/ BH on the weekend – could you guys post a little slower? J/K). Nice to come here after and see other related recommendations in the comments.
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